


clumsy, clumsy, close

by hoshi_ni_natte



Category: Free!
Genre: First Dates, First Kiss, M/M, natsuya and kisumi are mentioned, or somehting., they make hiyoiku suffer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-06
Updated: 2020-06-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:27:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24570805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoshi_ni_natte/pseuds/hoshi_ni_natte
Summary: “…We’re okay, right?”“We’re okay.”
Relationships: Kirishima Ikuya/Tono Hiyori
Comments: 4
Kudos: 32





	clumsy, clumsy, close

**Author's Note:**

> sorry i'll write a deep hiyoiku fic next time right now im depressed so i just wrote something disgustingly sweet. sue me

“You know, Ikuya…” Hiyori starts, swirling his drink just to make a show of the colored ice cubes dancing and catching light. “The other day when you were out with Natsuya-kun…”

With effort, Ikuya tears his gaze from Hiyori’s glass; even though Hiyori’s declared that it tastes like a solid five and a half out of ten, he’s kept ordering it every time they end up in this café after training if only because Ikuya enjoys looking at it. Ikuya is looking at _him_ now with a raised eyebrow, though. “When you say it that way it’s like he didn’t just drag me around because he was bored.”

Able to perfectly picture in his head the awkwardness and reluctance with which the brothers wandered around town, Hiyori lets go of his straw to stifle a fond chuckle using the back of his hand. “You say that but you’re happy he’s in Tokyo.”

“…Tokyo’s crowded enough without the guy so don’t tell him anything,” Ikuya mutters, his pistachio frappe less flashy but not any less flavorful when he takes his first sip just to stall. He proceeds to stir the cream into the ice to keep distracting. “Anyway, you were saying?”

“Oh, right,” Hiyori happily lays off, resting his chin on his palm and tilting his head at him. “Shigino-kun took me circle-hopping in his university some more after basketball.”

Ikuya stiffens, grimacing at the mention of Kisumi’s name—another guy he doesn’t need in crowded Tokyo. Ikuya pouts at the thought because he can’t help it, “Hiyori… Kisumi didn’t make you do anything weird, did he?”

“Nothing a weirdo like me couldn’t handle, don’t worry,” Hiyori promises, sliding his drink aside as he picks up his phone and scrolls through his messages with _Shigino-kun_ _🏀😘,_ as he’d saved so himself. “But there _was_ an astronomy club hosting an open observation camp next weekend. I was wondering if you wanted to go.”

Ikuya’s pout fades instantaneously when Hiyori turns his screen to him, and his eyes widen at the digital poster of an upcoming stargazing event. He’s lit up with earnest excitement, and if it weren’t for the look of surprise his reaction puts on Hiyori’s face he wouldn’t catch himself and his childish impulse. So suddenly he’s staring at his otherwise boring-looking drink and vacuuming it through the straw without savoring, determined to give himself a brain freeze.

Hiyori hums, wondering no more. He only gets up to soothe Ikuya’s back when he starts choking and coughing from drinking too much too fast out of embarrassment, and when Ikuya scrambles to get him to let up, Hiyori laughs— out loud this time. Because Ikuya’s clumsy reaction was answer enough to Hiyori, and because to Hiyori, every side of Ikuya is truly, incomparably cute.

Hiyori eventually lays off again to spare Ikuya’s dignity. When they finish their drinks in silence thereafter, they leave the café for home in an unspoken promise to forget that Ikuya almost got pistachio frappe up his nose, and the (un)inspired conclusion that they can be a little bit thankful that they’re friends with someone like Kisumi.

📱🥤

“Aren’t you gonna pack those, Ikuya?” Hiyori asks, pointing at the hoard of snacks on Ikuya’s table with his knife inadvertently. “After Natsuya-kun went through the trouble of buying them for you…”

“Please, Hiyori,” Ikuya sighs, scooping up the boiled eggs Hiyori’s just chopped. “I didn’t make him buy _anything,_ I only asked him the name of the gear rental place we passed by when he dragged me around last time. I mentioned going to a camp and he started getting excited on his own.” He drops the eggs into a bowl of mayonnaise and starts folding. “And what trouble? It’s a few hundred yen’s worth… He’s really treating this like it’s a middle school field trip or something.”

“I’m sure if you told him it was an astronomic observation with a university organization he wouldn’t have misunderstood,” Hiyori adds (un)sympathetically, starting on the dishes.

“No thanks,” Ikuya huffs—he’d roll his eyes if he weren’t so focused. “Telling him it’s a date with you is easier.” He finishes the mixture off with a dash of salt and pepper then proceeds to offer Hiyori a spoonful. “Can you taste this?”

Hiyori doesn’t even have time to be flustered about Ikuya easily calling this a date when they haven’t exactly decided it would be one, because he’s annoyed that it took him this long to comprehend why Kisumi had texted him a bunch of winking stickers when he told him Ikuya said yes, and because he’s currently faced with a huge helping of egg and mayonnaise, like who on earth does _this?_ Hiyori is firmly of the opinion that egg salad is only good eaten with white bread, never on its own and certainly never by the tablespoon.

But Ikuya doesn’t seem to find anything odd about it because he’s done this nearly every time Hiyori’s come over to cook with him, and it’s just so _silly_ and adorable that Hiyori’s heart feels like it’s about to burst from the sheer amount of affection that wells in his chest. To be honest, he was nervous Ikuya would’ve turned him down so he asked him out as casually as he could; thankfully it turns out that even mentioning Natsuya or Kisumi can’t turn Ikuya off from the idea of going stargazing, _with Hiyori,_ and it hits him all over again that they really _are_ going on this date tonight.

Hiyori opens his mouth and tries not to cry when he’s overwhelmed with sentiment and egg salad, clumsily mumbling an _“It’s delicious, Ikuya!”_ before turning to the sink so he doesn’t have to watch him break down over the smile on Ikuya’s face as he takes the last few slices of white bread to fill.

After cleaning up here, they’ll be ready to go to the circle’s meetup spot to convoy to the campsite; their gym bags are already set at the entryway of Ikuya’s apartment with their rented sleeping bags and tent. They just have to finish packing a few more things for the trip, namely, extra layers because Tokyo weather is fickle, a picnic blanket to lay on during the lecture, and all the sandwiches and rice balls they’ve prepared beforehand. Oh, and surely, begrudgingly, those cheap snacks from Natsuya.

🔪🥪

The lecture was informative and interactive, but it was more exciting to look through the telescopes the organizers set up, pointed at summer’s first constellations. Tired from aforementioned activities, the travel away from Tokyo’s city center then the climb up this mountain towards the outskirt, and having to constantly suppress the hurt of remembering that he’d done Ikuya wrong the last time he caught him gazing up at the sky, Hiyori escaped into their tent after the group was dismissed for the night.

He couldn’t peacefully doze off with the empty sleeping bag next to him, though, and stronger than his hurt is the want to be with Ikuya, to never leave him alone, so he crawls out of their tent soon anyway. He finds Ikuya still seated on the lone picnic blanket in the middle of the field, drowning in three cardigans with his knees hugged to his chest, eyes up at the sky.

Hiyori had spared the details of Kisumi’s nonsense from when they went circle-hopping, but getting introduced to the astronomy club and being invited to this event makes everything worth it regardless; Ikuya’s clearly happy to be here. As he pads towards Ikuya and in spite of insisting they’re past it, Hiyori thinks back one more time to that night in the playground, to the way Ikuya had sat at the top, lamenting Tokyo’s light pollution and things long lost.

Even after finally finding that which he’d lost and deciding to share it with his friends, _with Hiyori,_ Hiyori would still often find Ikuya squinting at the night sky with a wistful air about him as they leave the university campus to head to cafés or either of their apartments to hang out, like they’ve always done even before they started dating.

So Hiyori came to a realization that maybe—definitely—Ikuya’s done wishing on stars. Now he just wishes for them. More than to make up for having pulled him down and blocked his view of the sky then, Hiyori’s just happy to get to grant this for Ikuya, this time around. So when he sits down next to him, he does it carefully so as not to startle him.

“…Hiyori,” Ikuya says, and Hiyori’s the one who’s startled, by the suddenness and the words that follow: “Thanks for taking me here.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Hiyori is able to reply simply, lifting his gaze to look up at the same sky.

They’re content soaking up the sight of stars and each other’s presence in close silence for a while, and when Ikuya stirs Hiyori supposes it’s to finally go get a few winks of sleep before morning call in a few hours and they have to struggle to take their tent apart as much as they did when they put it together. But when Hiyori makes to get on his feet, the weight of Ikuya’s hand remaining on his is enough to keep him at bay on the picnic blanket.

Wondering if Ikuya’s falling asleep in that position somehow, Hiyori turns— but he immediately just feels like he’s in trouble. These days, any time he gets close enough to Ikuya to take those long, dark eyelashes in, he has trouble breathing and thinking; his chest feels tight and all he can think about is getting even closer, or something… He would pull away, because he should, but he sees specks of starlight in the amber of Ikuya’s eyes, and it just takes his breath away, along with any thought other than the fact that Ikuya’s leaning in and closing his eyes, and _not_ because he’s sleepy.

Hiyori swallows, his heart hammering the hardest it ever has in his chest, and in the second he tries to decide between running away before this kills him and conceding that being kissed by Ikuya isn’t such a bad way to go, Ikuya stops. Hiyori’s about to apologize for being hilariously nervous and soiling the mood but when Ikuya opens his eyes it’s not to meet his; it’s to look around cautiously.

Well, Hiyori’s relieved that Ikuya didn’t pull away because he decided at the last second that he didn’t wanna kiss him after all, but he still wonders what Ikuya’s looking around for. “Ikuya…?”

“You, uh,” Ikuya huffs weakly, shaking his head once as if he knows what he’s about to say is stupid: “You don’t think they’ll suddenly show up around here, do you…? Kisumi and Aniki…”

Hiyori blanks out, feeling like he’s just been thoroughly doused in a bucket of ice cold water, because _here Ikuya is,_ about to kiss him under the stars, and he’s thinking about—“Shigino-kun and Natsuya-kun…?”

Now that Hiyori’s repeated it to him Ikuya realizes how fucking _weird_ that must’ve sounded at this specific moment, and he shakes his head again, violently. “No, _no,_ please don’t think anything weird, Hiyori…! I just mean—” Ikuya takes his hand off Hiyori’s to scratch at his head. “Remember last time…? At Hidaka…? Those two showed up out of nowhere and…”

Hiyori attempts a smile but it wavers, complementing the loss of Ikuya’s composure. Truth be told, compared to Ikuya he’s kinder and more patient with Kisumi and Natsuya. But other truths be told, heaven (or hell) knows what he’d do if those two actually materialize on the campsite _at a time like this._

“I just mean,” Ikuya sputters hastily, helplessly, “if anything comes to ruin this now after I thought about it all week, I might never get the perfect chance to try to kiss you again—” He hangs his head suddenly. “Wait, _I’m_ the one who ruined it, aren’t I…” Then he snaps his head forward again, slapping his hands over his mouth and murmuring: “Shit, my breath doesn’t smell like egg sandwich and cheap nori snacks, does it?? Sorry, Hiyori…”

Hiyori doesn’t know what to say, he’s all dumbfounded. For how much he boasts about knowing how Ikuya feels or what Ikuya wants at any given moment, and for a good reason that saves him from unrealistic expectations, Hiyori had never considered that Ikuya would be—as he is with other things, his swimming, his peers— _this_ particular about romantic matters. Did Ikuya just admit out loud that he secretly thought this was perfect for their first kiss and that he’d been preparing for it all week? Hiyori never having thought about it outside fantasizing, _that’s_ just Ikuya all over.

All the blood’s rushed to Ikuya’s face, and his cheeks are very warm to the touch when Hiyori pulls Ikuya’s hands away from himself and cups his cheeks instead. “Ikuya, you’re wonderful,” he breathes, as much adoration in it as possible. He relieves one of his hands from the burn of Ikuya’s blush to push his hair out of his forehead and press his lips there gently. “Thanks for letting me take you.”

A sense of defeat washes over Ikuya—he’s not getting more than a forehead kiss tonight. But Hiyori wraps his arms around him and giggles into his neck, the sound of it so pleasant and pure that he feels like they’re in kindergarten again. Why he tries to hide his heart from someone who’s known it since they were children, he doesn’t have a clue. “…We’re okay, right?”

Kiss or not, this clumsy closeness is more than either of them could ask for. So Hiyori holds Ikuya tighter and reassures him, “We’re okay.”

⛺ 🌌

They aren’t. They don’t get any rest before morning call.

Hiyori and Ikuya were both hoping that when they retired back into their tent they might try again—in a tent under the stars is only a little less ideal than directly under the stars, after all. But they respectively got texts from Natsuya and Kisumi that pissed them off so much they couldn’t sleep, much _less_ kiss:

_(Hey, Hiyori… > (Say, Ikuya… >_  
_(Do you kiss on the first date??????? >_

**Author's Note:**

> i love imagining that once ikuya and hiyori are past making each other suffer they start dating but other characters make them suffer instead. im talking about natsuya and kisumi. "this fic wouldve been fine without them" oops. oh well. theyre only looking out for them i promise  
> ikuya @ natsuya and kisumi: you are so annoying. god bless  
> the "last time" referenced was from that drama track (燈鷹大学の怪談)  
> that's all. let me know what you think if you wanna!! dont fight me though... thanks for reading!


End file.
